Resident Evil Composer Admits Fraud, May Not Be Deaf

The strange revelations regarding famed video game composer Mamoru Samuragochi continue. After he admitted that another composer had created his works, reports are now stating that he may have faked being deaf.

ABC News reported yesterday that Samuragochi (pictured above), who was known as "Japan's Beethoven" for composing acclaimed neo-classical soundtracks to games like Resident Evil while being deaf, had actually paid another man to create his works.

He admitted to the press: "I started hiring the person to compose music for me around 1996, when I was asked to make movie music for the first time."

He claimed that his degenerative hearing was the reason for the deception: "I had to ask the person to help me for more than half the work because the ear condition got worse."

However, the case has now grown considerable stranger. Today, the mystery ghost composer came forward. His name is Takashi Niigaki, a music teacher who admitted that he had penned Samuragochi's music for the last 18 years. Niigaki also dropped another bombshell: That he believes Samuragochi has been faking his deafness.

"We carry on normal conversations. I don't think he is [handicapped]," Niigaki said, "At first he acted to me also as if he had suffered hearing loss, but he stopped doing so eventually.... He told me, after the music for the video games was unveiled, that he would continue to play the role [of a deaf person]."

Our TakeI've been a video game journalist for a long time, and I think this is the first time I'm speechless. That Samuragochi was able to carry on a long-term, complex deception of this nature boggles the imagination. At the very least, let's at least hope that Mr. Niigaki will now get proper credit for his work.

If this happened in America he would be getting a book and movie deal right about now. I wonder how they will handle it over there. His career must be done with, assuming Samuragochi isn't just a really good lip reader and was misunderstood as actually listening to the conversation.

Wow, I definitely can't recall any sort of deception of this magnitude in games. I'm really quite stunned by this.
Updated to add, Niigaki-san continued to compose for Samuragochi because he threatened suicide if Niigaki abandoned the work. Am I ever stepping back until this thing plays out further.